South St. Paul Municipal Airport , also known as Richard E. Fleming Field or simply Fleming Field, is a city-owned public-use airport located two miles (3 km) south of the
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
of
South St. Paul, a city in
Dakota County Dakota County may refer to:
*Dakota County, Minnesota in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area of east-central Minnesota
*Dakota County, Nebraska
Dakota County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of th2020 United States Census the populati ...
,
Minnesota,
United States.
It is named for
Richard E. Fleming
Captain Richard Eugene Fleming (November 2, 1917 – June 5, 1942) was a United States Marine Corps, United States Marine who received the Medal of Honor for his heroism in World War II during the Battle of Midway. Fleming piloted a Vought SB2U Vi ...
, a
United States Marine Corps Naval Aviator during
World War II who was posthumously awarded a
Medal of Honor. It is the only reliever airport for
Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport that is not operated by the
Metropolitan Airports Commission.
Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter
location identifier for the
FAA and
IATA
The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...
, South St. Paul Municipal Airport is assigned SGS by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA.
Over the decade of 1950 and 1960 the airport was the main launch center for Winzen Research Inc. One of the most important companies devoted to the construction and operation of stratospheric balloons. The proximity to their headquarters in Minneapolis, made the ideal place for testing of new balloon models, as well as for technological flights and a number of scientific experiments.
In 1957, Fleming Field was the site chosen to launch the first manned flight of the MANHIGH program of the Air Force, commanded by Lieutenant Joseph Kittinger. According to our records the latest balloons flights from there dating from the mid 60's.
Currently, inside the installations of the airport, there is an important museum with a very prominent collection of WWII aircraft.
[http://stratocat.com.ar/bases/23e.htm]
Facilities and aircraft
South St. Paul Municipal-Richard E. Fleming Field covers an area of and contains one
asphalt paved
runway designated 16/34 which measures 4,002 x 100 ft (1,220 x 30 m). For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2016, the airport had 51,000
general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 140 per day. In January 2017, there were 401 aircraft based at this airport: 375 single-engine, 20 multi-engine and 6 helicopter.
References
External links
South Saint Paul Fleming Field official web site
*
Airports in Minnesota
Buildings and structures in Dakota County, Minnesota
Transportation in Dakota County, Minnesota
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